Is Top Gun 2 Still Happening? Here's What We Know

A sequel to the 1986 Top Gun has been a topic of conversation for years. Recently the talk has appeared to heat up, implying that the sequel may be flying its way in our direction sooner rather than later. Now the man behind the entire project has made it pretty clear: Jerry Bruckheimer and Tom Cruise are discussing Top Gun 2.

Jerry Bruckheimer is the producer of the original Top Gun, as well as most of the great action movies of the last three decades, and took to Twitter to tell the world that he just went down to New Orleans, where Tom Cruise is currently filming another sequel (Jack Reacher: Never Go Back), to discuss the potential sequel with the actor. While Bruckheimer doesn’t say anything beyond that they talked about it, it’s certainly proof that the project is alive.

This comes on the heels of another star of the original film, Val Kilmer, announcing on Facebook that he was on board with a sequel. The actor’s initial post caused some confusion; for a minute we thought the movie would be directed by Francis Ford Coppola and co-star Gene Hackman. But it is clear that Kilmer is interested in returning and wouldn’t even need to see a script first. This is not to say we have any reason to believe that a script exists for him to see.

Tom Cruise has also said previously that he’s very interested in making a follow-up film, although one of his conditions, which we fully support, is that the movie would need to use actual fighter jets, rather than CGI.

We’ve heard rumors of a potential story for the film that would deal with the question of where fighter pilots fit in today’s military, which is so dominated by unmanned drones. While this is surely still a relevant topic, we first heard the idea two years ago, so it’s possible that a lot has changed since then.

The one thing that will have to change is the film’s director. Tony Scott died in 2012, which is at least part of the reason that this film has been in limbo for so long. The director’s death appeared to have killed the project entirely at one point, though it slowly built back up from there.

30 years after the original, a follow up to Top Gun would become one of the most anticipated films of whichever year it comes out in. We would love to see Iceman and Maverick again. How about you?